A Joyful Future

[0:00] The following sermon is made available by Lakeside Bible Church in Cornelius, North Carolina.

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[0:39] We'll start reading at the end of verse 18. Yes, and I will rejoice, for I know that this shall turn to my salvation or my deliverance through your prayer and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

[0:54] According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

[1:12] For to me, to live is Christ and to die is gain. But if I live in the flesh, this is the fruit of my labor, or I will have fruitful labor in ministry, as is referenced there.

[1:27] Yet what I shall choose, I don't really know. I want not. For I am hard-pressed between the two. I have a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better than anything he's experiencing in this particular world and in this particular life.

[1:43] Nevertheless, verse 24, to abide in the flesh is more needful for you. And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for the furtherance and the joy of your faith, that your rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again.

[2:05] Part of Paul's purpose in writing this letter was to address concerns that the Philippians had communicated to him. We mentioned last week they had sent a man named Epaphroditus, who was a member of their church.

[2:20] Perhaps he was even a leader in their church or an elder in their church. And they had sent Epaphroditus to Rome to comfort Paul, but to also bring them back a report on his own welfare and what the effect of his circumstance was on the gospel.

[2:37] And he addresses that in the study that we had last week. He addresses that particular concern. He addresses the question of what is going on with you and how is this circumstance in your life affecting the gospel?

[2:49] And in these verses, he moves on to what would inevitably be the next question. After he satisfied them by saying, God is advancing the gospel, so don't worry about my circumstance.

[3:01] And as he says, stay focused on the gospel. Don't worry about the people that are criticizing right now. He then anticipates that their next question would be, okay, well, what's going to happen now?

[3:15] If the present circumstance is okay and God's advancing the gospel, what's next, Paul? What do you think is going to happen? What do you think will happen? You've been in this process of judicial argument.

[3:26] What do you think will be the next move? And so this section of verses is really made up of Paul's thoughts on his immediate future.

[3:37] He's reflected on the past. He is considered his present. And now he turns his eyes to the future. And as we study this passage, we quickly discover that there was really only two possibilities on the table for Paul's future.

[3:53] Exoneration or execution. Life or death. That's it. He'd been in prison for four years now. Two years in Caesarea. Two years in Rome. He's gone through the judicial process at this point to the point that only thing that is left is the verdict to be delivered.

[4:10] He's appeared before the people that he's going to appear before. And now he's just waiting under house arrest to see what will the judge say. Will he exonerate me and vindicate me in this and allow me to live my life and serve Christ in further ministry on this earth?

[4:25] Or will his judgment be that I have violated the law in some way, that I have created this insurrection among Jews in the Roman kingdom, and therefore he sentenced me to death?

[4:36] Now we know that eventually Paul is martyred for his faith, but it's not at this point that he actually does become a martyr. At this point, he's just waiting to find out what the verdict will be.

[4:49] But he understood as he looked at his future that there was really only two options on the table. Either he was going to live or he was going to die. And that verdict was approaching and getting closer and closer for him.

[5:02] Of course, Paul was not defeated in this as he considered his plight, but he wrote that he was actually filled with joy at the prospect of both life and death.

[5:15] And we see that again at the end of verse 18. As he opens up this particular paragraph, as he discusses his view of his own future, he opens up by saying, I will rejoice.

[5:26] Whatever my future is, I will rejoice in that because I understand that my future holds Christ in every regard. If it's life, I will live it for Christ.

[5:37] If it's death, I will gain Christ. So it's not that Paul understood exactly what the nature of his future was going to be.

[5:48] He didn't know exactly how it was going to unfold. We learn that he has an anticipation. He has something that he thinks will happen, but he doesn't really know. So he presents both options. He says, I'm either going to die or I'm going to live.

[5:59] And no matter what, I'm going to rejoice because for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. So what we see here in this passage is really Paul's radical view of life.

[6:13] It's a radical commitment to Christ. And I think it causes us to examine our own attitude towards Christ in this. There's really three attitudes that Paul has here as he looks toward his future and as he contemplates what might actually happen.

[6:29] And these three attitudes is what allowed him to experience joy in this particular moment in his life. He didn't have an answer other than to give these three thoughts of how he was facing it.

[6:42] The first one is this. He was certain of ultimate deliverance. He was certain of ultimate deliverance. Look with me again at verse 19. Paul says that he will rejoice because I know that this shall turn to my salvation.

[6:59] I know that this shall turn to my deliverance. As we look at verse 19, the immediate question that comes to mind is what kind of salvation is Paul referring to?

[7:14] It can really be only one of two things. Either he's speaking of immediate deliverance, that the verdict will come and the judge will allow him to continue on in his life, or he's looking towards an ultimate deliverance.

[7:26] That in death, ultimately, he has been promised eternal life in Christ, and that means deliverance from every circumstance that he's then facing.

[7:37] Now, verse 25 indicates that he believed he would continue on living. Look at that with me, verse 25. He says, In having this confidence, or I am confident of this, I know that I shall abide and continue with you all for the furtherance and joy of faith.

[7:53] But it can't be that in verse 19 he's referring to life because in verse 20, he automatically reverts to the possibility of the realm of death.

[8:04] Look at verse 20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope that I won't be ashamed, that I'll be bold so that Christ will be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

[8:18] So he doesn't really know exactly what's going to happen. Therefore, we can conclude that Paul's certainty in verse 19 is not an indication that he knew how things would unfold in the future, but it's rather a statement that his present circumstance was only temporary.

[8:36] In one way or another, he was going to be delivered. In one way or another, whether life or death, this imprisonment was only temporary.

[8:46] This criticism was only temporary. This sorrow was only temporary. This disease was only temporary. This soreness and fatigue that he felt after being beaten so many times and all the things he had gone through in this particular phase of his life, all of these things were only temporary.

[9:04] So Paul says, I rejoice because I am certain, I am absolutely confident that everything I'm dealing with right now is actually temporary. And one way or another, it's going to come to an end, whether it be by life or by death.

[9:19] And in that, we're reminded of the truth of the gospel. For all of us that have truly come to faith in Christ, all of us that have viewed our sin, cast ourselves on Christ, despite whatever circumstance we may be in, despite whatever troubles we may face, despite whatever disease we may encounter, despite whatever struggle or criticism, no matter your circumstance, you can look at your life with great joy because as a Christian, you are certain and confident of the fact that this is only temporary.

[9:53] This life on this earth, it is only temporary. The struggles that come along with it, they are only temporary, but they are only temporary when you are in Christ.

[10:05] For anyone that is not in Christ, you cannot look at every circumstance with joy because there's no foundation for that joy. The focus of our attention in verse 19 should not be set on what kind of deliverance Paul would experience, but rather on the certainty with which Paul anticipated that deliverance.

[10:28] There's three things in this verse. One is implied and two are expressly stated. The first thing is this, he was confident or his confidence was produced by the word of God.

[10:39] His confidence was produced by the word of God. Now I'm told that the phrase, this shall turn to my salvation is actually a verbatim quote of something that Job had recorded in the Old Testament.

[10:52] You'll remember Job. I'll read the passage to you if you wanna reference it later on your own. It's Job chapter 13 and verse number 16. You'll probably remember verse 15 as Job in the worst stage of his life, in the worst predicament that any of us could even really imagine.

[11:08] He says, though God slay me, yet I will trust him, but I will maintain mine own ways before him. And then in verse 16, he says, he also shall be my salvation.

[11:20] Paul is quoting verbatim that particular passage. He shall also be my salvation. Now in English, it's not a word for word copy, but you gotta remember, Paul wasn't reading an English version of the Bible and he wasn't writing an English version of the Bible.

[11:35] He was writing this in Greek. And Paul's Bible in the early New Testament age would have been a Greek translation of the Old Testament called the Septuagint. So when you look at the Greek translations of the Hebrew in Job chapter 13 and the Greek writing of Paul's writing here in Philippians chapter one, it's a word by word quote.

[11:54] Implicit in this is that Paul's confidence in the certainty of his deliverance was first sourced in the fact that he knew and studied faithfully and believed the word of God.

[12:06] Now our lives are full of instability. By nature, we are incompetent. By nature, when we look towards the future, we look at it with no confidence at all.

[12:21] The only sort of confidence that we can actually achieve can only come from the inerrant, infallible, unchanging, eternal word of God.

[12:35] When Paul expresses this joy and this joy being in confidence of deliverance, he obviously had Job's words on his mind. There's no coincidence in that.

[12:48] Paul was a student of the Bible and it was the Bible that gave him this confidence because he could trust the words of God. In the deepest, darkest moments of your Christian life, your confidence and your joy will first come from the word.

[13:04] So stay in the word. Remember the words of Jesus in John chapter six. Jesus said, all those who come to me, I will in no wise cast out.

[13:18] Those who come to Christ in faith, he will never cast out. Paul had just said just a few verses earlier in Philippians chapter one in verse six.

[13:29] Remember what he told the Philippian people? I am confident. I am certain of this, that the God that has begun this work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.

[13:39] In other words, at the day that you face Jesus Christ, either from his coming back or through your death, he will bring this salvation to completion for you. You don't have to worry about that. That salvation is complete in your life.

[13:54] Consider Jesus's words to the woman at the well. He says, anyone who drinks of this water of salvation that I give will never thirst again.

[14:05] In John chapter three, the life that Jesus came to give because of his love for the world was not a temporary life. It was an eternal life.

[14:17] So when we look at our circumstances, even if our circumstances are like Paul's and it's a sudden death, perhaps, maybe it's through illness, maybe it's through struggle or through age, as a believer, we can rest certain and confident in the fact that God will save us.

[14:37] He will deliver us. And we rest in that because he has told us in his word. That's where his confidence was first sourced. Secondly, and much more quickly than that, his confidence was produced by the prayers of others.

[14:51] His confidence was produced by the prayers of others. Now the word of God is implicit in that verse, but prayer is actually stated clearly. Look at it again, verse 19.

[15:02] I know that this shall turn to my salvation through your prayer. In the mystery of God's sovereignty, the Bible teaches that God has chosen to use our prayers as a means of accomplishing his purposes.

[15:19] You can imagine the type of prayers that these believers would have been requesting. There's no doubt in my mind that as Paul was facing this imprisonment and this criticism, their prayers, the prayers of the Philippian church was for deliverance, immediate deliverance, just like our prayers would be.

[15:35] I would hope that if I got arrested today for preaching the gospel and I was facing imprisonment, that you would have a prayer meeting at least once and would pray, Lord, let Jared get out of jail.

[15:46] I don't think that was their only prayer because Paul's confidence here, what is sourcing his confidence is their prayer. So it's not that he's looking at their prayer and saying, I know how hard you're praying for my deliverance and I'm confident that I will be delivered from this prison because of your prayer.

[16:05] That is true. God uses our prayers in that way. But I think the nature of their prayer in conjunction with that, the nature of their prayer was, Lord, we know he's been there for four years. He's gotta be discouraged.

[16:17] Not only is he facing imprisonment, Father, but he's facing criticism from our own brothers and sisters in Christ, Lord. Lord, would you please help him stay faithful? Would you please help him stay strong? Would you please give him comfort?

[16:28] Would you please give him peace? Will you please provide to him the things inwardly that he needs to persevere in this circumstance? And I hope that would also be part of your prayer for me. Not only that I would be delivered from that immediate jail cell, but that the Lord, through the supply of the Holy Spirit, would keep me faithful in that circumstance.

[16:48] Paul said, my confidence here, my certainty is not only sourced in the word, but my confidence is encouraged by your prayer. His confidence was sourced in their prayer. Thirdly, his confidence was produced by the provision of the Holy Spirit, by the provision of the Holy Spirit.

[17:05] Everything we receive in salvation and in sanctification has these three elements as its source. The word of God, the prayers of others, and the spirit of God.

[17:19] It's the spirit of God that does the work, but it's the pages of scripture and the prayers of others that he uses to accomplish that work. Think about that. What's happening in Paul's life and his attitude in this moment was a result of God's work in his life.

[17:35] That's what was really happening. But what was God using? He was using the word and he was using prayers. Not only was he confident in his ultimate deliverance, secondly, he was committed to magnifying Christ.

[17:47] He was committed to magnifying Christ. Look at verse 20. According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.

[18:11] Paul was absolutely consumed with knowing and serving Christ. In verse 20, this is seen as he reminds the Philippian believers of his commitment to preach Christ in life and in the face of death.

[18:27] When he uses this phrase, eager expectation and hope, it was a statement of his ongoing commitment. This wasn't wishful thinking. That's not what he's saying. He's not saying, I really hope or I really wish that in life and in death, I would stay faithful to Christ.

[18:41] This is, that's not what he's saying. This is a statement of commitment. He's saying, my expectation, my hope, my certainty is that my attitude is gonna be in commitment to Christ. Whether I live or whether I die, I will stay committed to Christ.

[18:54] And the way in which he was gonna stay committed was by unashamedly preaching the gospel in life and by courageously facing death for the sake of the gospel.

[19:05] This is no secret to Paul's life, right? Remember what he wrote in Romans chapter one, for I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. Why was he unashamed of the gospel of Christ? He goes on to say, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone that will believe.

[19:22] And then he says in the end of verse 20 that his goal is to magnify Christ as he preaches the gospel, whether it be in life or in death.

[19:33] And we know what this means. To magnify something means to make it larger or to make it more easily visible. We accomplish this in using a telescope by making things at a far distance appear much closer.

[19:46] And we accomplish it with a microscope by making tiny things look much larger. Paul's goal in life was to live in such a way that he would bring Jesus close to those who were far from God and that he would make Jesus visible to those who were blinded to God's truth.

[20:06] Which leaves us with a self-examining question. Does my life magnify Christ? Not, the question is not am I just following Christ?

[20:19] It's not do I believe Christ? Is that, is the way that I'm living my life, the way that I'm preaching the gospel, the way that I even consider the future of my death for the, possibly for the gospel, is my life and the way that I live actually bringing people closer to Christ?

[20:35] Am I making Christ more visible to the people around me because of the way that I live and the way that I talk in the things that I do? That's a convicting question to ask because I think all of us would see here and say, you know what, we could probably magnify him a little greater than what we're doing now.

[20:52] We could probably be more faithful to talk about the gospel. We could probably be more faithful to holiness. We could probably be more faithful to fill in the blank. I watched a documentary that was produced by National Geographic recently called Free Solo.

[21:07] Free soloing is a type of professional ice and rock climbing where a climber will climb by himself and without any harnesses or ropes or protective gear at all.

[21:19] They pick a rock face or an ice face and they climb it by themselves with no help. Free Solo, this particular documentary, follows a man named Alex Honnold who is a free solo climber.

[21:30] It's what he's passionate about. In fact, he makes a great amount of money rock climbing professionally yet he chooses to live in a van because that's his life. His life is wrapped up in rock climbing.

[21:42] That's all he wants to do. So he lives in a van. He can jump in it. He can wake up in the morning, fix his eggs, get in the car and drive to the next rock face for him to climb. But he's a free solo climber so he does this alone and he does it without ropes and he had set a goal and the documentary really follows the story of how he prepares to climb what's called El Capitan in the Yosemite National Park.

[22:03] You can look that up on Google and you can see a picture of it. It's a 3,000 foot climb and if you look at the pictures of it it looks like a sheet of glass. It's just solid. How anybody could climb any portion of it is unbelievable but to especially do it with the confidence that he has without ropes and to do it alone is quite astounding to be honest with you.

[22:22] That's really what this particular documentary is about. It follows Alex as he prepares to make this attempt to be the first person to climb El Cap as they call it without any ropes or any harnesses.

[22:34] And as he gets into this documentary of course they're trying to get into his head to see what causes him to do this and he has a pretty unique perspective on death. At one point in the beginning he says the way I see it all of us are just a step away from sudden death.

[22:52] Any of us could die at any moment. He said I'm not at any more risk than anybody else. It just appears that I'm at more risk because the way that I choose to live my life has a greater consequence.

[23:05] In other words if he falls off the face of the mountain there's no coming back from that. But he's saying that his risk of death is no different than your risk of death. You could get in a car accident as you leave today. You could come down with some type of severe illness.

[23:17] You could choke on something at lunch and lose airway and not be able to release that and just like that you're gone. And so basically his perspective as death is we're all a step away from death.

[23:28] I at least am going to live my life doing the things that I love the most which for him is rock climbing with no ropes and with no people to help him. But the documentary also follows the way that his passion of rock climbing affects relationships in his life particularly the relationship that he has with his girlfriend whose name is Sonny.

[23:51] Just before he makes this attempt to climb this rock face the film shows a conversation that he has with his girlfriend where she is very obviously reluctant for him to make this attempt.

[24:03] She doesn't want him to do it. She knows that he can die very very quickly. In fact up to this point all of his practice has been done with ropes and he fell many many many many times. And now he's just going to go and he's going to climb it without the ropes and she's reluctant for him to do that.

[24:18] And as they're having this conversation she asks if he had some type of relationship or some type of care for something in his life that would cause him to want to maximize his lifespan.

[24:32] And here's what he said. He said if I had some kind of obligation to maximize my lifespan then yeah obviously I'd have to give up soloing. And she obviously replies with a question of whether or not he viewed her as a worthy enough obligation to which he responded no no I appreciate your concerns I respect that but I in no way feel obligated no and he goes on with his climb his life is consumed with free solo climbing to the point that he will allow no person or thing to distract him from pursuing that passion even in the face of death he refuses to have his focus and attention diverted away from what he loves the most and this is exactly the kind of passion and pursuit that the apostle Paul demonstrates in his life in Christ there's no greater passion in his life than Christ and his gospel and he will not allow any person or thing to distract him from pursuing his ultimate passion even in the face of death

[25:38] Paul refused to have his focus taken away from the knowledge and purposes of Jesus Christ and that is clearly stated in this most famous verse verse 21 as he says for to me to live is Christ and because my life is consumed with Christ I view my death as gain it's amazing this entire section of verses and perhaps even the entire book of Philippians is centered on this verse this statement is the foundation for everything Paul writes in regards to the way that he will live his life and the way that he will face his death think about these verses in particular he's able in verse 18 to have joy despite his circumstances because for him to live as Christ and to die his game he's able in verse 19 to be certain of ultimate deliverance because for him to live as

[26:40] Christ and to die his game he's able to be bold and facing execution in verse 20 because for him to live as Christ and to die his game he embraced death in verses 22 to 24 instead of fearing death because for him to live as Christ and to die his game and he was willing to remain on earth for the purposes of gospel ministry in verses 24 to 26 only because for him to live as Christ and to die his game every single statement in this passage is only possible because for Paul verse 21 was absolutely true so when we look at Paul viewing his future and we say man I would love to look at my future with that kind of joy man I would love to look at ultimate deliverance with that kind of certainty and man I would love to be bold enough to preach the gospel in that way you will never be able to experience that joy and have that confidence and preach the way that Paul preached unless verse 21 is absolutely true for you too that for me to live is

[27:40] Christ that my life is primarily consumed with the person and the work of Jesus Christ and in the face of death I understand that this life is nothing that I want to hold on to and there's nothing in it that's worth holding on to I would rather go see Christ it's an amazing statement we often view death as a loss so it should grab our attention when Paul makes this statement of death actually being gained as believers we know what he means but whether or not we view death as a loss or gain is directly related to what it is that we choose to live our lives for your primary pursuit in life will determine your view of eventual death when Paul said for me to live is Christ and to die is gain it's not that he didn't have a life he wasn't married but he certainly loved people he loved this church he loved other churches he was passionate about people he had relationships that he cared for he had hobbies he writes later on in Philippians he alludes several times in the scriptures about the

[28:48] Olympic games and the Greek games that they had perhaps he was a runner he talks about running a lot all of these things he had passions in his life it's not that he was but in view of Christ everything else was minimized and with Christ set on the throne of his heart everything else was put in his proper place but if you were to move one of those things into the place of Christ then the thing that gets minimized is actually Christ my worry and my prayer is that the Lord would help me not to put my family on the throne of Christ in my heart so that Christ is minimized in it so that instead of saying I'm going to pursue Christ and I'm going to bring my family along with that I don't want to say I'm going to pursue my family and we'll figure out a way to work in Christ if your life is consumed with him and remember what Jesus said if any man come after me and he hate not his father and mother pale in comparison to your followership of him if your life is consumed with your hobbies your death will be considered loss if your life is consumed with material gain then your death will be considered as loss if your life is consumed with selfish ambition your death will be considered as loss and you get the point

[30:11] I think it's for this reason that some Christians actually are happy for the Lord to Terry is coming I remember as a teenager maybe some of you will remember this that grew up in church I remember as a teenager anytime my dad who's a pastor anytime he would preach on the second coming of Christ and he would preach on the rapture he would preach on Christ could come back at any moment I remember thinking in the back of my head selfishly Lord I understand that but if you could just wait for me to get married I think I would enjoy that you know we play those foolish games where man if I could just get this Lord just hang on just for a little while let me experience this part of our life and really what it is our mindset is set so much on this earth that we're happy to minimize Christ and even cause him to Terry is coming as long as we can enjoy the things that we want to enjoy now we say that in a funny way but how many of us actually live that way we really think about it Lord you know I want to go to heaven and I want you to come back and I love this life and if you let me live it a little longer so

[31:14] I can accomplish world but for Paul to live was Christ so that in death it was gain do you view death as gain this morning is your life so focused on Christ that your heart is overwhelmed with joy at the prospect of both life and death because it's consumed with Christ first this passage is a call for us to live a radically different life as a Christian it's a call for us to repent of the spirit that often accompanies cultural nominal Christianity and actually make Christ and his gospel the primary pursuit of our life as Paul looked at his future he wrote of three attitudes he had he was uncertain of exactly how it would unfold but there's three attitudes he had he was confident!

[32:17] in ultimate deliverance he was committed to magnifying Christ in everything even in life and death and then finally we see that he was content to follow God's plan no matter what that was his attitude look at verse 22 if I live in the flesh this is the fruit of my labor I will have fruitful labor he's referring to his ministry yet why I shall choose I don't know if given the choice of life or death I don't really know that I to be with Christ is far better that's what he wanted if Paul was given the choice in that prison cell he would have chosen Lord bring me home because that's the ultimate gain but then he says in verse 24 nevertheless to abide in the flesh is more needful for you and being confident of this I know that

[33:19] I shall abide and continue he's not speaking to the same type of confidence as in verse 19 as if God has in special revelation given him this viewing that he is absolutely going to survive but he he he's basically saying I think this is what the Lord is going to do and if this is what the Lord is going to do this is why he he will do it And he gives!

[33:39] he believes that his life will be continued and the reason I use the word content here in this point is because given the choice I think Paul clearly preferred to be with Christ he had what he wanted but then he saw what he thought was probably the will of God and those two things didn't match that's the very nature of contentment that we have our plans and we have our desires and we have our wants which is natural and it's not a bad thing to have those things but his desire wasn't greater than God's plan there's a lesson in that for us and at the point that I'm willing to sacrifice my desires on the altar of God's will and God's plan is the point that I can look at my future with joy whether it be in great triumph or whether it be in great sorrow I can look at my life with joy because I'm more concerned with what God wants than what I want for my life three things that made

[34:42] Paul believe his life was going to continue I'm just going to state them and move on and let you study them later okay the first thing was this he was submitted to the will of God he was submitted to the will of God that was more important to him than anything else many of us miss the joy of serving Christ because we're unwilling to submit to the will of God when it doesn't match up with what we would rather have or do secondly he was concerned for the progress and joy of others he was concerned for the progress and joy of others that's in verse 24 being in the flesh is more needful for you I shall abide and continue with you all for your progress and joy of faith he cared about ministry loved it and he wanted perhaps there are times in your life when you're wondering what your purpose is within the church I want to submit to you that it's the same as Paul's purpose the progress and joy of others brother

[35:46] Lee you and I were having a conversation this morning we're talking about coming in and you mentioned how there wasn't really a lot that you were able to do bringing stuff in this morning and I imagine that there are probably moments in your life and my life and others lives when we get to places like that we don't feel like we've got a lot to offer we don't feel like we've got a lot to do you have just as much to offer as Paul had to offer because your concern should be the progress and joy of others our church needs you if you're a believer we need you and it's not just that we need you to carry a piano or a speaker all that stuff is helpful please keep doing that but it's not that we just need that what I need more than you to carry a TV and set up a backdrop what I need is your prayer and I need your encouragement I need you to ask me every now and then if I to ask me am I loving my wife the way I need to love my wife I need you to care about my progress in the faith my maturity in Christ and I need you to care about my joy in the faith we all pastor each other in that way it's the purpose of the church it's why we have one another it's not just to attend service on

[36:51] Sunday I want the progress and joy of their faith and then finally he was committed to the glory of Christ verse 26 that you're rejoicing may be more abundant in Jesus Christ for me by my coming to you again he knew that as much as he wanted to go to heaven these people were praying hard that he would be released and if the Lord answered!

[37:21] that prayer it would only cause them to stay on this earth for a little while longer and suffer for a little while longer he would do that why because to him to live was Christ and to die was gain so we conclude that Paul truly did view his future whether it meant life or death with great joy and that wasn't founded on the power of positive thinking but on the realization that in Christ he could not lose circumstances might not have been ideal but he was serving the purposes of God and his joy was represented in that certainty commitment and willing heart let's pray thank you for listening to this sermon made available by Lakeside Bible Church feel free to share it wherever you'd like please do not charge for it or alter it in any way without express written consent from

[38:24] Lakeside Bible Church don't forget to visit Lakeside Bible NC if you live in the Charlotte or Lake Norman area we'd love for you to attend one of our worship services we meet every Sunday morning at 10 a.m.

[38:41] in the gym at Cornelius Elementary School we'd love to meet you